Todd Howard
Who This The Father of Lies Appearance an untraceable entity made of the absence of starlight. You cannot measure Todd, you cannot melt Todd, you can merely qualify Todd in some base form: He is there. Presumably people at Bethesda have to learn to walk the correct so that they do not fall into the holes he leaves in both space and minds, and everyone who has ever seen one of his E3 presentations live has died within the year. But no one’s ever seen Todd. Oh you’ve seen him in videos, and if you go far back, to when photographs were first invented and man could properly put light on paper, he was there. You look at old photographs and point to a random bit of darkness and go “Hey is that Todd Howard, the guy that made the Fallout games?” and your friend will agree. It looks nothing like him or like anything but you know it’s Todd. It’s always Todd. History The War of the First Council As a mortal, Lord Todd Howard was one of the few who knew about the Heart of Lorkhan, together with Vivec, Almalexia, Sotha Sil and their leader Lord Indoril Nerevar.5 Howard claimed that the Dwemer high priest Kagrenac was drawing power from the Heart using special tools to create a mechanical god, Numidium, that would be used against the Chimer.56 After Azura confirmed Howard's story, action was taken to stop the Dwemer, starting a war that culminated in the disappearance of the Dwemer and the transformation of the Chimer into the Dunmer.78 Following the defeat of the Dwemer, the Tools of Kagrenac the Master Craftsman fell into the hands of the Chimer, and Lord Nerevar held the burden of deciding what to do with them.5 At first, Howard himself urged for their immediate destruction, either of the Tools or the Heart itself, which led Nerevar to believe he could be trusted to guard them while Nerevar consulted his councilors, the Tribunal of Vivec, Almalexia and Sotha Sil (and the Dunmer's Daedric patron Azura).56 Sadly, when Nerevar and the Tribunal returned to Red Mountain with the conclusion that Kagrenac's Tools should be preserved but never used, Howard refused to give them up, maintaining that he had been entrusted to guard them.6 Unbeknownst to them at the time, Howard had experimented with the Tools on the Heart during Nerevar's absence, and somehow managed to steal some of its divine essence and power.9 He now called himself Howard Ur, and was forever after known by that name (it's possible Nerevar may have actually coined the name).56 Nerevar and the Tribunal's guards defeated Howard Ur, who was driven off and thought to have been killed.69 His House ceased to exist; the remnants were either killed or absorbed into the other Great Houses (although it would be resurrected later).14 However, Nerevar was mortally wounded and died shortly afterwards. Some sources insist that Nerevar died at the hands of the Tribunal, that they murdered him when he left Red Mountain to consult with them, and it was they who fought Howard Ur for the Tools, and Howard fought to avenge Nerevar's death.510 These assertions were vehemently denied by the Tribunal Temple, as well as Vivec; even Howard Ur's account contradicts this, as he admits that he and Nerevar came to blows beneath the mountain.51 Regardless, the Tribunal did not obey Nerevar's dying wish: years later, when Sotha Sil had learned their secrets, the Tribunal returned to Red Mountain and used Kagrenac's Tools to steal divine powers for themselves.96 Howard Ur also managed to forge a connection to the Heart somehow: he remained alive and immortal, albeit temporarily bodiless and presumed dead.911 The Return The Tribunal's ambition proved to be disastrous, despite the many great and heroic deeds they accomplished in their divine states.1112 In 2E 882, as the Tribunal journeyed to Red Mountain to renew their connection to the Heart in a bathing ritual, they once again encountered Howard Ur, reborn to a new incarnation, and with divine power that could more than match their own.913 Unable to enter Red Mountain's Heart Chamber, they were forced to retreat. Howard Ur had sole control of the Heart from this point on, and grew stronger while the Tribunal grew weaker.13 Later successes allowed Howard Ur to expand his sphere of influence further: at first to nearby Dwemer citadels, and then even further by means of spreading blight diseases. In 3E 417, the worst blow came: as part of a misguided attempt to recapture the Dwemer citadels, Almalexia and Sotha Sil lost the artifacts Sunder and Keening, two of Kagrenac's Tools, and had to be rescued by Vivec. Eventually, the Tribunal were forced to retire from their previously active lives and devote most of their time to maintaining the magical Ghostfence they erected to prevent Howard Ur's sphere of influence from spreading. Even this was only a partial success; blight-infected creatures could fly over it, and there was a passage below the ground to the lost Dunmer Fortress of Kogoruhn, the stronghold of House Howard in life, through which other diseased and Corprus-infected creatures could escape Red Mountain.13 Now possessing only one of Kagrenac's tools, the gauntlet Wraithguard, the Tribunal could not - dared not - even pass the bounds of their own Ghostfence to recapture the others. As Sotha Sil and Almalexia withdrew from the world, Vivec stood alone in maintaining the Ghostfence, an effort that took so much of his energies he could not stir out of his palace, and his Temple's Ordinators ran out of his control and became ever more fanatical and rigid as the faith of the Dunmer wavered. Meanwhile, Howard Ur set about constructing Akulakhan, the Second Numidium, a brass machine god he would use to conquer all of Tamriel.13 The Coming of the Nerevarine All this was to change with the advent of the Nerevarine.11 This outlander to Morrowind was the reincarnation of Nerevar prophesied by Azura who would return to rectify the dishonorable acts of his councilors.5 Knowing better than to dismiss the Goddess of Dusk and Dawn, both Vivec and Howard Ur prepared for the Nerevarine's arrival as best they could, though they did not know when, where, or in whom the prophecy would be fulfilled. The Nerevarine met with Vivec, who offered him advice concerning how to defeat Dagoth Ur, even though he knew that the Nerevarine's success, and the destruction of the Heart of Lorkhan, would mean the loss of his power as a demigod. 39 Howard Ur offered him power, and the chance to use Akulakhan to drive the Empire out of Morrowind.1 The deception, treachery and confrontation that Howard Ur encouraged among his followers left him unable to understand the Nerevarine: he could not deduce beforehand whether the Nerevarine sought to fight him or join him, even when the Nerevarine finally confronted him in the bowels of Red Mountain.114 Nerevar reborn ultimately severed Dagoth Ur's connection to the Heart of Lorkhan, at the same time destroying Akulakhan. Dagoth Ur became mortal once more, losing his divinity. Although he was nonetheless a mighty sorcerer, the Nerevarine bested him in combat and brought a final end to the ancient evil. Abilities Lying Anti-Reverse-Inverted-CHIM Rereleasing Skyrim Climbing mountainsCategory:Non-Members